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SSD Boot drive Intermittent fails and leads to BSOD

I have had an ongoing problem with this issue but it has now got worse.

Whilst this only happened spasmodically and it I seemed to track it down to power supply failing on the 120Gb boot SSD.

After several attempts at looking at the problem I tracked down a faulty main MB header connector. I had previously cleaned the pins with contact cleaner but when the problem persisted I tried re-soldering the header pins to the MB. The symptom was the PC Would be working ok then reboot to the BIOS screen. I would check the SATA list an the boot drive would be missing.

However since the last occurance a few days ago (after 3 months of perfect use) the issue started again but this time something is different as every time after a reboot the boot drive is there and the system boots up ok, approximately 5 minutes later the screen freezes followed by BSOD - CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED.

If I immediately boot to a USB stick and then open a elevated command prompt I find that the boot drive is not there.

If I do a complete shutdown and switch back on and go directly to an ECP (elevated etc) the boot drive (C:) is there but again if I sit and wait at the command prompt after about five minutes the C: drive has gone.

Even trying to run chkdsk fails to finish.

I have tried running SSD life Pro to check the drive and it reports 100% ok with an expected life of 10 years.

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After experimenting for several hours I have established the following. From a full shutdown I can start the PC and it will boot into windows and run perfectly well doing any function or running any program without error. But only for a period of from 3 to 8 minutes then whatever is running will freeze or some other function will freeze like mousing over the task bar will stop. I do nothing eventually first I may get a green windows background screen then a BSOD CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED error. This I have confirned means the boot drive has gone.

Two things happen now.
1. If I press reset, the system reboots and goes to the BIOS screen, where I can see the booty drive is missing in the SATA screen.
2. If I press reset followed imediatelly by the power button, the PC shuts down. Then when I power on again the PC starts normally again for another cycle of 3-8 minutes.

I ask my self two questions.
1. If the drive is faulty, why does it operate perfectly for a few minutes
2. If the power supply is faulty, why do the other SSD drives not stop working as they are on the same physical power leads.

I also note that the Speccy report shows Hibernation enabled, however when I check settings it says Hibernation is disabled.
Very confusing symptoms.

There was good news and bad news. The good news was I have tracked down my problem, the bad news is I have tracked down my problem and it was my boot SSD. I bought a new on (Samsung 840 EVO 120gb) and after a successful Win 8.1 install, the PC has been running without a hitch for several hours. After evaluating all the data I had collected it had to be the drive.

So business as usual and thanks for viewing. I hope the symptoms and cure may help someone else

Thanks for posting your resolution here as it'll help others who come looking for help with a similar issue.

My browser caused a flood of traffic, sio my IP address was banned. Hope to fix it soon. Will get back to posting as soon as Im able.

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